First week of February, and winter in Sweden is at its best, with crisp sunny days and temperatures just enough below freezing. I heard that in Pennsylvania, the groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter and if it would stay this way I wouldn’t mind. So for the stream, I thought that Goundhog day (the movie) could one of the themes. It’s one of my favorite movies that I watch every now and then. Always brings me to my happy place! One song was given, namely “I got you babe” that’s playing every morning that Bill Murray wakes up in the movie. Here in a little more bluesy version. I also wanted to play the Pennsylvania polka. Love playing those songs with a little more old fashioned organ sound.
As usual there has also been some musician birthdays worth noting. Joe Sample of the Crusaders for example, and Joshua Redman. To honor them I put Street life and Molten Soul in the set list.
Also, I wanted to bring the subject of the Eurovision Song contest. Now, the European contest doesn’t take place until May, but the Swedish process for determining who will represent us has already started, in smaller competitions every Saturday for the coming 6 weeks. A Swedish phenomenon, no doubt. I don’t think any country puts as much effort into it. the contest has changed a lot over time, of course, and the music is quite different now from what it was when it began in the 50s. So I thought I’d give a teste of the old times by playing Sweden’s song in 1966, that ended up in second place in the European competition. The title is Nygammal vals and was originally performed by Svente Thuresson and Lill Lindfors.
